Meet Glennis

ANNCR:

HUMIRA is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis who are ready for systemic therapy or phototherapy, and are under the care of a doctor who will decide if other systemic therapies are less appropriate.

GLENNIS:

One day I was at work. It was in the summertime, and someone came in my office and they looked at my foot, and they said: what is that on your feet? It started rising up. It started getting to the ankles, and then eventually came up a little further to the legs. I panicked. I went to, like, three or four doctors because I didn’t know what that was. And they didn’t, either. They said athletic feet, fungus, ringworm. And when I got to the dermatologist, he right away looked at it and said: you have moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis. You will have it for the rest of your life.

I like to cook. I think that came from raising three kids. At first, it was hard to cook. Try to cut up some onions. It hurt. Wash dishes, that burned. The psoriasis went everywhere; my hands, my arms.

ERIC:

One day I just noticed her skin.

GLENNIS:

You know, my son came over one day and he said: Ma, you got skin all over this place. You know, skin was everywhere.

ERIC:

I didn’t know what psoriasis was. When she told me about it, I still didn’t know. You know, I'm like trying to figure out how’d she get it? You know, is it in the family? You the first one because I never heard about it.

GLENNIS:

Some mornings you say why bother? You just get to the point where you don’t want to go anywhere. At work, people do not want to come in your office. They did not want to touch anything that I touched. And I put literature about how it’s not contagious; you can’t catch this. It didn’t make any difference. One of the coworkers went to the executive director and told him: I don't want to be in contact with Glennis at any time. And that hurt quite a bit. And I just couldn’t take it anymore. So I left.

ERIC:

She was a hard worker, you know? Single parent, and I know that really hurt her, kind of – you know, it hurt her kind of bad.

GLENNIS:

So that’s when I got on the internet and searched and researched. And I went to my doctor, and I said: I want to try HUMIRA. I won’t sit up and say, well, HUMIRA changed my life. No. Psoriasis changed my life. HUMIRA just helped me to keep going.

ANNCR:

In clinical trials most adults who used HUMIRA for moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis saw 75 percent skin clearance. And the majority of people were clear or almost clear in just four months. Your results may vary. HUMIRA can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure.

Before treatment, get tested for TB. Tell your doctor if you’ve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common. And if you’ve had TB, hepatitis B, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores, don’t start HUMIRA if you have an infection.

GLENNIS:

After maybe three months, I said: oh, it works; it’s actually clearing.

ERIC:

Once she started taking it, I noticed that the sores was going away. That’s a good thing, you know?

GLENNIS:

I went on a cruise and I was able to put on a bathing suit. I haven’t been able to put a bathing suit on in years.

ERIC:

It’s just see – seeing a smile on her face more often.

GLENNIS:

I volunteer at the hospital and help the veterans there. Because of the emotional problems that I was going through, I asked them did they have any psoriasis support group. And they said no, but why don't you just start one? So I did. I had doctors come. My doctor came. Even my son came to the support groups. And I try to tell everyone: don’t just sit there and suffer. There are things out there that can help you. There’s always hope and there’s always help. Clearer skin is possible. You know, you're gonna want to give up, but don’t give up. Just keep – keep fighting.